Tom Aspinall has cleared the air on his negotiations leading up to the UFC's tricentennial PPV event, UFC 300.
As the interim heavyweight champion, Aspinall has been campaigning for bouts with the undisputed champion Jon Jones, and his challenger Stipe Miocic. Only one of those names came up in negotiations, however.
In an interview on February 12, Aspinall discussed his negotiations with the UFC concerning a fight at UFC 300. The Brit mentioned that #4 ranked heavyweight Miocic turned down a fight:
"I told the UFC, if you want me to be ready, I'm going to be ready for [UFC 300]," Aspinall said on The MMA Hour. "They offered me Stipe [and I agreed]. Then it came back an hour later that Stipe just wanted to fight [Jon] Jones."
Aspinall then talked rumors of a fight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at heavyweight. The two brawlers had been fanning the flames of the fight on social media, but Aspinall reduced it to "flirting" before snubbing the fight altogether:
"There was talks about Alex Pereira moving up to heavyweight," Aspinall continued. "... I'm not the type of guy to start turning down fights, I've never turned down a fight in my life. .... When I started hearing rumors of that, me and Alex started doing a little bit of online flirting back and forward. But we have a couple of mutual friends, and it's come to light that Alex isn't going to move up to heavyweight yet..."
In a statement from January 15, Pereira addressed a callout from his light heavyweight rival Magomed Ankalaev. "Poatan" said he'd prefer to fight Jamahal Hill, before alluding to a heavyweight move:
"Guys let's focus on what matters which is Jamahal Hill," Pereira wrote. "And then I'll focus on breaking another record by making two title defenses in the shortest time possible."
If you use any quotes from this article, please leave an H/T to MMAKnockout.com for the transcription.
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